Look, I’ll be honest: I don’t know what “Christian Nationalism” actually means.
And the dirty little secret is, neither does anyone else.
Don’t get me wrong: There’s a Wikipedia entry on it. Plus, a Merriam-Webster dictionary definition. And a sitting U.S. congressman just wrote an entire book about it, warning Americans of the gathering storm. (Nancy Pelosi called it “sobering and inspiring.”)
More on that in a sec.
But other than symbolic gestures — like Christmas trees and crucifixes — how in the world is “Christian Nationalism” manifesting itself in the United States? And if it were, what would its political platform even look like?
By some estimates, there are over 200 different Christian denominations across North America. (And another 35,000 independent or nondenominational churches.)
Do you know why there’s such a variety of churches?
Bingo: There’s also a variety of opinions!
Good luck bringing the top 100 church leaders together and getting ‘em to endorse a political platform in 2026. You kiddin’ me?
Abortion, capital punishment, taxation, border security, and LGBTQ rights: Do you REALLY think there are thousands of different churches — with thousands of different theories of how to be a good Christian — yet a consensus exists on the most divisive political issues of our day?
Sadly, America’s top 100 church leaders probably couldn’t agree on more than a handful of bullet points.
And besides, if “Christian Nationalism” prevailed, how would our lives actually change? Are there any contemporary examples?
Is England a “Christian Nationalist” country? It has an official state religion — the Church of England. (There’s also Saint George’s cross on the English flag.) Elsewhere in Europe, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria, and Denmark all levy a “church tax” on their citizens.
Yet in Europe, it certainly doesn’t seem like “Christian Nationalism” is spiking public discord. It appears to be… something else: